In order to remove obstacles for enterprises of all economic sectors in the accounting of foreign exchange rate differences and to create an equal business environment among enterprises in accordance with the provisions of the Law on State Enterprises, the Law on Enterprises, the Law on Foreign Investment in Vietnam and the Law Amending and Supplementing the Law on Foreign Investment in Vietnam, the Ministry of Finance hereby amends and supplements a number of points in Circular No. 44-TC/TCDN of July 8, 1997 on the handling of foreign exchange rate differences as follows:

I. To amend the name of Circular No. 44-TC/TCDN of July 8, 1997 as follows:

"Circular guiding the handling of foreign exchange rate differences in enterprises"

II. Section I of Circular No. 44-TC/TCDN of July 8, 1997 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

"I. GENERAL PROVISIONS

1. Subjects of application:

This Circular shall apply to:

a) State enterprises;

b) Enterprises operating under Law No. 13/1999/QH10 on Enterprises, passed by the National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on June 12, 1999;

c) Joint-venture enterprises, 100% foreign-invested enterprises and foreign parties to business cooperation contracts under the Law on Foreign Investment and the Law Amending and Supplementing the Law on Foreign Investment in Vietnam (hereafter referred to as business cooperation foreign parties), which make accounting in Vietnam dong and must handle the foreign exchange rate differences in order to determine costs and taxable incomes.

For joint-venture enterprises established on the basis of treaties signed between the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and foreign governments, if such treaties contain provisions on the handling of foreign exchange rate differences different from the guidance in this Circular, the provisions of such treaties shall apply.

2. In this Circular, the following terms shall be construed as follows:

2.1. Foreign currencies mean any currency other than Vietnam dong.

2.2. Foreign currency operations mean activities of collection and payment in foreign currencies that are expressed in current accounting and used for calculation of prices.

2.3. Foreign exchange rates mean the rates of the exchange between two kinds of currency (hereafter called exchange rates for short).

2.4. Foreign exchange rate difference (hereafter called exchange rate difference for short) means the difference between the exchange rate recorded in the accounting books and the exchange rate at the time of adjustment of the same foreign currency.

3. Subjects prescribed at Point 1, engaged in foreign currency operations shall account the exchange rate differences according to the provisions of current accounting regime.

The exchange rates for converting foreign currencies into Vietnam dong shall comply with the provisions in Circular No. 77/1998/TT-BTC of June 6, 1998 of the Ministry of Finance guiding the foreign exchange rate for converting foreign currencies into Vietnam dong for use in book-accounting in enterprises.

4. All foreign currencies, for which the Vietnam State Bank does not announce the exchange rates for their conversion into Vietnam dong, shall be converted through US dollar."

III. For foreign-invested enterprises, the unhandled exchange rate differences resulting from foreign currency loans arising before the effective date of this Circular shall be handled as follows:

The increases in the exchange rate differences due to the re-evaluation of balance of foreign currency debts arising in the 1999 fiscal year or before shall be equally distributed into production and business costs of the enterprises for the remaining years under the borrowing contracts, as from the 2000 fiscal year; such duration shall not exceed five years. Enterprises shall have to register the distribution of the above-mentioned exchange rate differences with the local tax bodies.

In cases where the enterprises achieve good results in their production and/or business activities, they may propose the local tax bodies to shorten such distribution duration.

IV. This Circular shall replace Circular No. 101/2000/TT-BTC of October 17, 2000 of the Ministry of Finance and apply to the financial final settlement and tax final settlement as from the 2000 fiscal year (also applicable to enterprises with their fiscal year having ended in 2000). Other provisions of the Finance Ministry�s Circular No. 44-TC/TCDN of July 8, 1997 which are not contrary to this Circular remain effective.

V. In the course of implementation, if problems arise, they must be reported promptly to the Ministry of Finance for study, amendment and supplement.

For the Minister of Finance
Vice Minister
TRAN VAN TA